Visa has introduced the Trusted Agent Protocol, a new framework designed to secure transactions as AI agents increasingly shop and pay on behalf of consumers.
Developed with Cloudflare, the protocol establishes a foundational framework for agentic commerce by enabling secure communication between AI agents and merchants during every step of a transaction.
It helps merchants verify legitimate agents and filter out malicious bots, addressing a growing challenge in AI-driven commerce.
The launch comes as AI-driven traffic to U.S. retail websites has surged more than 4,700% over the past year.
While most shoppers who use AI tools report better experiences, the rise of automated transactions has created new issues for merchants, including bot detection systems blocking valid agent activity and a loss of visibility into the consumer behind the AI.
The protocol allows approved AI agents to securely transmit key details to merchants using cryptographic signatures.
These include an agent’s intent to buy, data showing whether a consumer has an account with the retailer, and payment information that can be provided as an option to support a merchant’s preferred checkout method.
Built on the HTTP Message Signature standard, the framework requires minimal user experience (UX) changes and aligns with Web Both Auth, with potential to extend to non-web message protocols.
The initial specifications apply to the Visa network, but the company said it is pursuing an open, ecosystem-wide approach.
Visa is aligning with standards bodies such as IETF, OpenID Foundation, and EMVCo, and is working with partners including Coinbase on interoperability with x402 and other agentic commerce standards.
“We believe the entire payments ecosystem has a responsibility to ensure sellers can trust AI agents as much as they trust their best customers and networks. For the past year, we’ve worked closely with sellers, issuers and partners to make sure agent-initiated transactions are as seamless and secure as any payment today.
Our new agent protocol is focused on creating no-code functionality for merchants to securely identify agents with an intent to buy and provide a better payments and personalized experience for its known users.”
said Jack Forestell, Chief Product & Strategy Officer, Visa.
“Securing the future of commerce is a shared responsibility, especially as AI agents begin to act on behalf of consumers.
Our work with Visa on the Trusted Agent Protocol is a vital step in building the necessary guardrails for this new ecosystem.”
said Stephanie Cohen, Chief Strategy Officer, Cloudflare.
The company added that it has worked with partners including Adyen, Ant International, Checkout.com, Coinbase, CyberSource, Elavon, Fiserv, Microsoft, Nuvei, Shopify, Stripe, and Worldpay, who provided feedback during development.
The Trusted Agent Protocol is available now in the Visa Developer Center and on GitHub.
Featured image: Edited by Fintech News Singapore, based on image by thanyakij-12 via Freepik
